Local Furniture Designs & Fall's Hottest Fashions Collide

RENDEZVOUS POINT
The Peel chaise by Khodi Feiz for Council is an elegant simplification of the usual clunky convertible furniture—it goes from lounge to bed in one intuitively swift move. The design’s transparency is owed partly to its minimal silhouette, which is crafted from plywood and upholstered in soft wool. Keep in mind, however, that although the Peel doesn’t hold any secrets, it’s perfectly suited to host them. $5,200 at councildesign.com

JOINT CHIEFS
The award-winning Link LED lamp by designer Peter Stathis for SF-based Pablo Designs is a modern update of a classic pantograph task light. It offers several layers of personalization: The 97-percent recyclable design comes in wall-mounted, table-clamp, or standing floor varieties that flex, tilt, and nod. Available in five jaunty colors. $330–$440 at 2modern.com

SUNNYSIDE UP
The cheerful Shaker stool by Jennifer Ivanovich and Branden Adams of BaDesign in Oakland derives its name from the pattern of salt shaker perforations on its seat, which allow the powder-coated-steel piece to also serve as a plant stand (complete with drainage holes) or a percussion instrument for impromptu jam sessions. The Shaker’s hollow interior has also proven to be a clever hiding place for intrepid ankle-biters. Parental supervision required, of course. $600 at badesignlab.com

BACK TO CALI
While living in Brooklyn in 2007, San Jose native Jared Rusten experienced a fortuitous spell of homesickness that caused him to dream up the California desk, a handsome rendering of the Golden State’s iconic shape, lovingly carved from salvaged claro walnut. “This tree species is no longer planted in orchards,” says Rusten, who opened a Mission District furniture studio in 2003. “Every California table features a rare wood from a finite supply.” $2,950 at jrusten.com

LAW OF DISTRACTION
Leave it to Mike and Maaike—the local design duo behind the brilliant Juxtaposed bookshelves and a little something called the G1 Android smartphone—to devise a room divider that doesn’t obscure or intersect as much as it energizes and captivates. Swarm, created for SF-based Council Design, is a modular system: the screens—clusters of seemingly randomized wooden strips—overlap for an effect that’s, well, kind of a blur. $1,425 at mikeandmaaike.com

GRAY'S ANATOMY
Around these parts, Thomas Wold’s name is synonymous with whimsical furniture—surprising amalgamations of different salvage-yard castoffs that magically synchronize to form functional art. While the Small World Media Ready credenza seen here is an atypically streamlined work (or, as the Berkeley designer describes it, “a character isolated from a complicated story”), Wold’s signature curveball takes the form of a bright turquoise interior akin to “the lining of a bespoke jacket,” he says. $4,400 at propellermodern.com

GET CRANKING
David Pierce, designer of SF-based Ohio Design, reimagines machinist tables from the turn of the century with the Adler, a walnut-and-steel beauty that, while steeped in antiquity, also happens to elegantly address the modern topic of ergonomics. By simply cranking a chromed handle, a set of gears raises and lowers the table’s surface to accommodate standing and seated positions. Unsightly Aeron chairs, be gone. $1,925 at ohiodesign.com

TEENAGE DREAM
Drawing from a daring youth spent skateboarding the half-pipe in the backyard of his childhood home in Los Gatos, product designer Eric Pfeiffer, creative director of Oakland-based Pfeiffer Lab, designed this Half Pipe desk with a cantilevered molded-plywood top and powder-coated-steel base. Pfeiffer’s two decades of furniture design have historically been inspired by midcentury stylings, and the 2011 Half Pipe is no exception: its elegant, functional form and warm-cool materials palette are quintessentially of-the-era. $999 at pfeifferlab.com